The Day After
by Karpah
Summary: Things could have gone different then. What would have been the results? (FFVI) (this is just the beginning! More to come!)


I'll never forget that day. Standing up there, on the Floating Continent, it was the most surreal moment of my life. I stood there, with my friends behind me, facing the evil that was Kefka and the Emperor Gestahl. They were trying to move the Statues, I remember that, to possess the power they held. When they saw me, they flipped out completely. How ironic, that I was once with them, and I would now be the one to bring them undone, miles above the surface of the planet they wanted to own.  
  
My name is Celes, and I am an Magitek knight, infused with the power of Magicite.  
  
Kefka appealed to me, then. Offering me his sword, offering me redemption for my betrayal of them if I took the sword and ended my friends' lives. God, they were my friends. They'd saved me from imprisonment, and sure execution. I could see Locke standing there, pleading with me with his eyes. It was he who had unshackled me, let me free, invited me to accompany him out of South Figaro even though he knew I was with the Empire.  
  
But he hadn't believed me when I said I wasn't a spy. That had hurt. In the Magitek Factory, Kefka had played upon their insecurities about me, accusing me of working for him all along. And they had fallen for it, hook line and sinker. The thought of it brought tears to my eyes. I hated them all for that, but especially Locke. Even when he appealed to me in Albrook, I hated him, I wasn't going to forgive him, ever.  
  
My fingers tightened around the handle of the sword.   
  
A look of fear jumped into Locke's eyes, as well as Terra's, and Edgar's. Still they had their doubts about me, I could see it.  
  
My friends. Could I really do what I was about to do?  
  
I held the blade high, but at the last moment, I faltered. Something in his eyes, the blue of his eyes, wouldn't let me do it. I hated him for what he'd done, but I was only human, I couldn't kill him.  
  
I'd leave that for someone else to do, later on. It wasn't my job.  
  
I spun around, and held the blade straight out, charging towards Gestahl. The impact wasn't as jarring as I'd expected, the sword sliced through his skin and into his body with a cleanness and a surprising swiftness. Right up close to him, I could see the look of shock on his face. It took him a moment to register what we all already knew; that he was going to die.  
  
He crumpled to his knees, then down to the ground, still with the look of astonishment on his face. Clutching his stomach, but it didn't stop the blood pouring out, pouring everywhere, covering him in a redness that looked oddly soothing. I couldn't stop staring at him, like I was stuck in a trance, not even when Kefka bolted over to me and grabbed the sword out of my hand. Before I knew it, he had it held to my throat.  
  
"Traitor..." he hissed between clenched teeth. "How dare you betray me, after everything we promised, after everything we've been through?"  
  
"Me, a traitor?" I spat back. "You did it all, Kefka, you threw it all away! You were in power, ruling the world, but it wasn't enough for you. You wanted the ultimate power. The power of magic. But you never got it, did you?"  
  
He was cocky, reaching into his pocket to grab his Magicite stones. But his bravado soon turned to dismay, when he discovered their absence. I reached into my own pockets, withdrawing the previously undiscovered esper Terrato.  
  
"Oh," Kefka breathed, taking a step forward to get a closer look, "it's beautiful..."  
  
"And it's not yours, and never will be." I continued, my voice strong. "You will never again use the power of Magicite for evil, Kefka." I threw one last look at my friends, and squeezed my eyes shut before uttering my next words. "You will never again hold that role, because it's mine from now on."  
  
Cries of disbelief from behind me.  
  
"Celes..." Locke screamed. "What are you doing!"  
  
I turned to face him.  
  
"It's my role, I alone will wield this incredible power. I was born with it, I will die with it, and I will be the only one to possess it."  
  
Without me even realizing it, the power within me had cast Float, causing me to rise high above them, down on the continent.   
  
"Mortals abuse the power. Look at Kefka, look at Gestahl. Look at yourself. Ever since you first discovered Magicite, you've been abusing it, extracting the power, using it for your own good, selfishly."  
  
The power coursed through my veins. Part of me wanted to do this, to prove it to Locke, prove it to Terra. Terra, the little half-Esper who had struggled to accept her own identity. Watching her come to grips with her power, when I had always known what I was, what I would be. That same little girl was at this very moment summoning her own power, turning into an esper, rising up with me.  
  
"Celes... I won't let you do this..." she declared. Like she could stop me! But I wasnt ready for this, not yet. A battle of the espers was something I could not win, for now, and I knew it.  
  
You dont have a choice, I replied sweetly. And I lashed forward and struck her then, causing her to cry in pain and drop to the ground. I didnt want to do it, but she left me no choice. No-one ever did, so I carried out my plans and my orders without complaint. Celes, the true knight.  
  
Another last look. I was stalling.  
  
But I dropped the esper in my hand anyway. Terrato clanked onto the ground, harmlessly at first, but then the magical energy in the air became to react with the stone. I didnt want to watch as Terrato came to life, summoned the element of earth to shatter the ground they stood on. I didnt watch as the four of them fell to ground, like tiny dots, all security and all safety stripped from them.   
  
"Home…" I whispered to myself. "Take me home." 


End file.
